1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of improved retail merchandise display assemblies which are adapted to dispense merchandise from the front. More particularly, the invention concerns a retrofit pusher unit for placement into an existing merchandise display tray.
2. Description of Related Art
Retail merchandising requires that items for sale to individuals be arranged in a display such that they are attractive and readily accessible to the customer by being easily identified and within reach. Typically, customers will take the forward-most items from a display, leaving the rearward items which are not easily visible or are harder to reach. Furthermore, the items for sale must be maintained in an organized manner for the convenience of subsequent customers. A merchandise display must also be readily adaptable for restocking merchandise. In addition, to provide a maximum selection for customers, the goods must be compactly arranged in displays which maximize the available shelf display space.
Many useful merchandiser assemblies are available which provide an organized display for goods to move consecutively to the front of the assembly by gravitational force when each item is removed from the front. Examples of such gravity fed display devices may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,050,748 to Taub, U.S. Pat. No. 4,958,739 to Spamer, U.S. Pat. No. 4,785,945 to Rowse et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 4,460,096 to Ricci. These devices generally require tilting the display shelf at an angle, which results in an increased likelihood for accidentally breaking the merchandise. When stacked upon each other, these models also waste potential display space beneath the uptilted end of the lowest stacked shelve and above the lower end of the uppermost shelf.
In order to conserve available display space, especially in a temperature controlled environment such as a refrigerator, and to reduce the likelihood of damaged goods, it is preferable to use a simple mechanism, such as a spring, to feed the merchandise forward, rather than relying upon the above gravity feeder designs. Examples of such display assemblies may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,123,546 to Crum, U.S. Pat. No. 5,111,942 to Bernardin, U.S. Pat. No. 5,069,349 to Wear et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,027,957 to Skalski, U.S. Pat. No. 5,012,936 to Crum, U.S. Pat. No. 4,901,869 to Hawkinson et at., U.S. Pat. No. 4,899,893 to Robertson, U.S. Pat. No. 3,848,745 to Smith, U.S. Pat. No. 3,308,961 to Chesley, the contents of which are all hereby incorporated by reference. However, existing mechanical display trays are only provided in a complete assembly required for total display shelf replacement. Furthermore, current display tray devices are not structured for the convenient restocking of merchandise.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an economical retrofit merchandise pusher unit for placement into an existing merchandise display tray which can advance items consecutively forward when the front item is removed.
It is a further object to provide a device with a pusher plate which automatically advances merchandise items forward, and which has a pusher element which is movable between a merchandise-dispensing position and a merchandise-loading position.
Another object of the invention is to provide an improved shelf for dispensing merchandise which has been retrofitted with a merchandise pusher unit.